you can enjoy this holiday card from my brother... his wife karin... and elijah

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Dear Friends and Family,

Wow another year has flown by and it is again the holidays! We have had a very busy year here in the Herman household, I hardly know where to start. Most of you already know by now that we are indeed expecting another baby in May. Karin's pregnancy is going well and we have been told through genetic testing that it will be a girl. All of us are very excited to welcome her into our family. As if that wasn't big enough news we also bought a new house in August and we are all enjoying having more room in our grown up house. Elijah is growing by leaps and bounds. Everyday he is talking a little more and making a little more sense. He loves playing with cars and trains, he is all boy. He has learned to petal his tricycle and can ride quite a long way when given a chance.

This year we also welcomed some new faces and said goodbye to some others. In March Brad sadly lost his Grandpop Nate. He is missed greatly, but we feel honored to have had such a wonderful man in the family for as long as we did. In December Brad lost Mommom Emmy. Just a week after her 89th birthday. She had an amazing life and Brad gave one of the eulogies. In June we were blessed with a new niece, Cadyn Nyland, she was born healthy on her Gramma's birthday. She is a beautiful baby and is already growing so fast. We have also made new friends and seen some old friends move away.

All in all we have had a busy yet wonderful year. Our family is healthy and happy. We hope that all of you are well and ready to ring in a new year. We are so glad to have you all in our lives and for the many blessings we receive from having wonderful friends and family like you.

and when it needed to be washed... a fleece throw i made took its place for the day.

she made sure that all of her nurses... and anyone who walked into her room knew that i had made it. she was so proud of me... and always told me.

now the quilt is mine again.

and while i thought it would be strange.

and hard to look at... instead it brings me comfort.

and i'll treasure it knowing what comfort it brought to her.

all along the last few months i knew my silver lining was that my brother, his wife.. and this little one would fly in when it all happened... this little one is only a bit over 2 and was a ball of energy all week.

but there was another silver lining

one i never could have dreamed of.

i have learned some amazing family history in my absence from my blog this past week... i have often mentioned that my mom doesn't quilt... she is an amazing seamstress & embroiderer but unfortunately not a quilter... my mommom.. who was my mom's mother was also an amazing seamstress... but that was all i knew... as our family gathered to remember her... a quilt was taken out and shown to me... a quilt i had never seen before.. and didn't know existed.

all kinds of emotions were flowing.it wasn't long before i remembered that there was a double wedding ring quilt that had been passed down to me... i took it out and started searching the back... and found AEK 1939.

now i had the challenge of figuring out who was AEK... who made these quilts?..

they are both hand crafted beautiful pieces of art.... true heirlooms...

the "K" was easy.. Kardux... my mommom's maiden name.

but past that... i had no idea.

her mom was Joanna Boda.. and since Kardux was her married name it wasn't her mom... it had to be someone else...

my mom pulled out a bound book of my mommom's family history which goes back to my great...great...great grandparents. the table of contents was no help.... no AEK... so we went page by page... till we found it.

I discovered that my Great Great Grandmother's name was Alice Edith Souter... she was listed as Edie Souter in the table of contents... it had to be her. she was born in 1863 and died in 1952... that means she was 70 when the one quilt was finished and 76 when the other one was.

I am very grateful to have in my possession these pieces of my own family history, at the same time I am sad that I did not discover that my mommom's grandmother was a quilter... I would love to have had the opportunity to have my mommom share her stories of her grandmother with me.

the family history book had a lot of information... this excerpt stuck out to me...

a perfectionist... i'm far from perfect...

but there have been times that i redo a seam until it is perfect

so i guess when that happens.. i'm having an Edie moment.

I will treasure these quilts and the history i have just learned of them... and make sure that their history is passed down to future generations and kept alive.

{photo credit for all but one photo goes to my brother, brad herman... thank you for continuing to inspire and push me... and for being just as creative as i am... i couldn't ask for a better brother.}

i have a large spring one from this pattern that i've been working on forever... i think with me if i don't have a deadline.. and the quilt isn't small.. chances are it isn't getting done anytime soon.